I agree. And, I would argue Amazon and Netflix supported the economy. Just as much as going to the mom and pop store. The American economy became a consumer economy, so as long as we were spending.... The housing/speculation is what did us in. No one had money. No one had credit. And anytime new technology is introduced, a down side is, people losing jobs. I remember when robots were introduced into car manufacturing, everyone thought it was the end of the employee. And yeah, many were replaced, but it wasn't the end. I think it was the late fees, or lack there of, that made netflix a great deal. Blockbuster could be such creeps about it. AND, that netflix seemed to have a great variety. AND, it saved a car trip.
Netflix is highly worth it if you're a person like me who has a fair number of things they want to see. If you can watch and return at least two titles in a month then I'd say you can more than get your money's worth out of the $9 you pay monthly. I usually watch about 4 DVDs a month, personally so I'd definitely say Netflix is an excellent solution for renting especially for me since they have a lot of stuff I'm into like foreign martial-arts films and Japanese animation.
Blockbuster really has nothing that I want to see. My wife works for the cable company and we get all the on demand stuff for free, so if I want to see some mainstream new release, I watch it on there. I like obscure old horror movies, and I watch alot of documentaries, and you just can't get either of those in a rental store. So I give my business to the company who has what I want, and that company is netflix. There is no local business that provides this service.
I had blockbuster for a while and their service went to crap. I finally gave them up and going back to netflix
I tried Blockbuster for a month and it took about a week for a new movie to come in, and then the story nearby closed down, so it was pointless to keep.
I got a 3 month gift subscription for NEtflix for my bday, so hooked it up through my Xbox. The content up here in Canada is god awful. Nothing is availiable. Are we going to be getting more content or is that more of a "changing Canadian law" kind of thing? The one saving grace is that Red Dwarf is availiable.
A streaming-only plan is now officially an option at $7.99 per month, while plans including DVDs are receiving a price increase.
This is a real big problem. When it seemed Blockbuster would get their shit together Netflix lowed the prices a buck on their plans, now that's going back up. What's to stop that from being a trend? Nothing really until people start ditching, but people won't because Netflix is the only thing around.
Funny that this page questions whether having Blockbuster dying is a good thing, and ends with the announcement that Netflix is raising their prices on their dvd packages. Less entertained, personally, because I just changed from Blockbuster to Netflix, and one of the attractive features was that they were a couple bucks a month cheaper. I've had this account for a month (including the 2 week free trial, so only even made 1 payment, and it's still valid), and they're raising the price on me. At least Blockbuster rented blu-ray as part of the same priced plan, Netflix wants even more if I want those, so wondering if this was such a good idea now, or whether I should can both of these ideas and just go with Redbox...
It all depends on what you are looking for with the service. I have no problem finding a title that I want to watch. I have found so many TV Shows, Movies and Documentaries that keep me entertained for a long time. Even with the limited selection it is still well worth the low monthly fee. It would cost me far more per month on my cable bill to add channels that would at best, show a quarter of what I want to watch on Netflix. Even if it was up to 50% or 75% I am still saddled with the channels' schedules. The great thing about Netflix is that it is instant, and available where I want. TV, Computer, iPhone, iPad. I do agree that it can be very frustrating almost to the point of anger, when a title is available in the US and not up here though. I just hope that the disparity between the available content will grow smaller.
It probably didn't help Blockbuster either that they opened entirely too many stores back when business was good. People tend to not take that into consideration. They built more than was necessary and never imagined for a moment that things could potentially take a sharp left turn for the worst. I like Netflix, but I'm not against going to an actual video store. I still do that about as often as I did before I got Netflix. I had often relied on either purchasing movies or waiting for them to come on satellite. The video store was a last resort (although there was a store in Richmond, VA called Fan Video that I would often go to just because they were a truly badass video store), and the number of times I go there in a given year are about the same as they were before I got Netflix a few years back. I do wish I could take advantage of streaming more often, but I'm stuck on a shitty satellite connection, and Netflix Instant Watch would eat up my bandwidth limit in just a couple of movies.
They over saturated the market for sure. Then they stuck to a business model that was gradually being left in the dust. It's been about a decade since I ever rented anything from Blockbuster. It's been 6 or 7 years since I rented anything from a brick and mortar video store. If it's a movie I want I will buy it. Now that I have a Netflix streaming account i can actually watch a lot of the movies that I never bothered with back in the day. I have no cap on my internet so I could stream 24/7 if I wanted to.
It's a fantastic service, I completely agree with you, and the price is right. I suppose that is why it's so frustrating not having the same content availiable as the States does - you know it can be better and at a great value too. Are they even working towards that though? I've found no mention of it using my google-fu.
The Netflix price "increase" is actually just a return to their original pricing. However, when they had the original price streaming wasn't available like it now is so really your still getting a much better deal even at the "price hike". Scout asked if he should go to Redbox....well only if you wanted a very limited selection. If all you care about are the latest DVD releases you'll probably be alright most of the time. If you are a movie junkie then Redbox isn't an option. Just try to find say Galdiator at one, you won't. Obviously that is an example but you see what I'm saying?
I used Redbox once. It's actually kinda handy if you're at the grocery store and just happen to feel like seeing a particular new title (assuming the damn thing has it).
Yes, but it's not really an endorsement of Netflix from where I'm sitting. I own a lot of movies, and if it's an older movie or tv show I really care about, I've already got it. I'm not renting Gladiator one way or the other, it's on my shelf. A lot of what I'm looking for IS newly released. Occasionally I check out some older stuff, but I'm not digging that deep anymore. I've been a blockbuster customer (mail in) since 2004, i think, so i've really dug through most of that. At this point, netflix is just delivering new releases, but delayed a month. Streaming is nice for digging up older stuff without waiting for the dvd, but not great for new stuff. Honestly, for me, I'm trying Netflix, and I'll see how it goes, but from a price standpoint, it's probably dumb for me. If I want mostly new stuff, i'm probably better off grabbing them from Redbox, I can't possibly be getting more than 14 movies a month. Really, Netflix is more about convenience, but they're pricing themselves past the point where it's probably worth it for me. Like I said, I've only been a customer of Netflix for just over a month, so annoying that I'm already getting a price increase right after my very first bill. Not as happy with their online interface as Blockbuster, either, but that's a seperate issue. Blockbuster makes it easy to save movies that aren't out yet, by having categories for movies coming out NEXT week, plus movies in the theater right now. That way, you add them when you hear about them, and a few months later, they show up when released. I find myself using the blockbuster interface to identify what to add to my netflix queue, which is dumb...
I agree the cost of movie from Block Busters or Net Flix is out of this world. I will continue to use my DVR.
The cost of a movie from Netflix (can't speak about Blockbuster) out of this world? SERIOUSLY? For 10 bucks you can have UNLIMITED streaming and UNLIMITED DVDs, as long as it is 1 at a time, basicaly 2 to 3 times a week. So 10 to 12 movies a month. So, about ONE buck a movie PLUS as MUCH streaming as you can. THAT is out of this world? Even the three at a time with unlimited streaming is a great deal. If those aren't, what is? Maybe you were just kidding... I don't know.
According to the New York Post, Netflix is looking to make additional in-roads into airing episodes from current television seasons: